Unity College adds 3 faculty members

UNITY, Maine — At a time when colleges and universities across the United States are trimming jobs, Unity College is boldly bucking the belt-tightening trend and has announced the hiring of three new faculty members.

The creation of the new positions is in response to a historically large pool of applicants, strong retention of students, new and ongoing public-private partnerships, and an increase in giving to the college during the 2008-09 fiscal year.

“We’re very excited to welcome three strong new members to our full-time faculty this fall,” Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Amy Knisley said in a press release. “The news in higher education has been full of layoffs and cutbacks — entire programs being cut along with their faculty, including tenured faculty in some cases. There is nothing more important, for a small college like ours, than a strong faculty, and I’m so pleased we’ve been able to maintain our faculty work force in full for this upcoming year.”

In addition to the historically high number of applications received for the incoming Class of 2013, Dean for Enrollment Management Alisa Johnson reports that the academic profile of the incoming class is outstanding.

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“The Class of 2013 has the highest grade-point average and best SAT scores of any class in the history of Unity College,” Johnson confirmed. “This adds to an already strong curriculum with national reach. We have students from the West Coast, Midwest, South and Northeast. We believe that Unity will also continue to make strides in attracting international students in the years to come.”

The faculty ranks have not been the only part of the college to see growth; four new sustainability positions were added recently.

“Our sustainability program recently added two new sustainable landscape horticulture assistants and two new sustainable food production assistants,” said Sustainability Coordinator Jesse Pyles. “It is exciting to be able to add new sustainability jobs at a time when higher education is cutting back. I think our commitment to sustainability is pervasive from the top down. President [Mitchell] Thomashow has made sustainability a priority and engaged in a variety of commitments, but sustainability initiatives are so grass-roots at Unity College that they are bubbling up from all departments.”